A/N: Just a little one-shot I came up with while baking cookies... I came across some baker's chocolate and ideas started floating around in my head... Takes place pre-Angel Experiment, so no spoilers from any of the books. Oh, and any of you who don't know what baker's chocolate is, you might want to Google it so you know/understand this up the Max's appearence.

Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride

RLM: As hard as I tried, I could not find a appropriate song about chocolate.


Angel was hungry.

It was ten in the morning, and the Flock had already devoured pancakes and bacon, curtsy of Iggy, but Angel just wasn't satisfied. She wanted something sweet, something yummy and not good for you.

She wanted chocolate.

She thought about asking Max or Fang for some (because she knew they must have some stowed away somewhere), but then realized they would probably say no, considering it was ten in the morning and if she got a pice, the whole flock would have to have some, too.

So she decided she was better off on her own.

Looking ahead at the large kitchen in front of her, Angel knew this was going to be difficult. The chocolate could be anywhere. The pantry, the cupboard, the refrigerator (Max was a sneaky one), anywhere. How could she ever find the wonderful food?

She decided to start with the obvious: the pantry (no), the cupboard (nothing), the candy box (which was filled with... oranges?), up high in cabinets (only glasses and Max's diary. Hey, Max's diary...), even the refrigerator! There was nothing. No signs of any type of sweet at all, let alone chocolate!

She finally made a breakthrough when she remembered the "Cooking Area".

Iggy's personal pantry of all things required to make food: flour, sugar, vanilla... chocolate. Yes, there must be some form of chocolate in the Cooking Area. Chocolate chips, M&M's, solid chocolate... Angle's mouth was watering.

She rushed over to the Cooking Area, flitting from shelf to shelf, box to box, trying to locate the magical substance. And then- finally!- she found some.

Or, at least something highly similar to it.

BAKER'S CHOCOLATE, it was labeled. SEMI-SWEET CHOCOLATE SQUARES. Semi-sweet... that was the kind of chocolate Iggy said was in those really good muffins he made the other day! Angel had loved the stuff! Yes! But... what was baker's chocolate? 'That's probably just the brand,' Angel convinced herself, too excited about finally finding the chocolate.

She ripped open the box, dumping it's contents on the wooden floor. Angel gasped. The squares were huge! Almost as big as her hand! The little blonde squealed with thrill.

She wanted to savior this, so she unwrapped the big square slowly and carefully, like a child on Christmas day, trying to preserve the moment for as long a possible. When she finally unwrapped the square all the way, she carefully folded the wrapping paper back up, placing it gently in the floor beside her. Then, closing her eyes and opening her mouth wide, she bit into what she was sure would be heaven.

Yuck! Angel spit the piece out almost as soon as it entered her mouth, choking and sputtering. Water. She needed water to get the taste out of her mouth as soon as possible. She grabbed a cup she had knocked over in vain during her search for chocolate and filled it with water from the sink, not having the patience to open one of the many water bottles they kept in the fridge. She gulped down the water and stuck her tongue out, trying to forget the taste. What was that?

"Angel?"

The little girl looked up at the intruder like a deer caught in the headlights. Slowly dropping the cup in the sink and moving in front of the mess on the floor, she smiled sweetly up at the tall figure in front of her.

"Hi, Max."

Max, however, wasn't fooled. "Angel, I can see the mess behind you. What's going on?"

Knowing she had been caught, Angel hung her head.

"I wanted some chocolate..."

Angel told Max the whole story, from her need for chocolate to her hunt around the kitchen to tasting the disgusting chocolate impostor. At the end of the tale, instead of penalizing her like Angel thought she would, Max laughed.

"Angel, honey, baker's chocolate isn't the kind of chocolate you like. It doesn't have any sugar in it."

Angel frowned, confused.

"So why do they make it?"

Max smiled bending down to pick up the small mess behind Angel, carefully placing the big squares back in the box.

"Cooks like Iggy like use it when they want a chocolatey flavor without adding all the sugar. You wouldn't eat it raw."

Angel nodded, still not really understanding the concept.

"I'm sorry I made a mess, Max."

Max smiled, picking up Angel and ruffling her hair.

"It's alright, hon. C'mon, I know think I know where all the chocolate went..."

Meanwhile, on the other side of the E house, a certain blonde eight-year-old stopped shoving his face with stolen chocolate and gulped.

Uh-Oh...


A/N: Oh, Gazzy, making it so hard for your sister to find chocolate... I cannot even imagine how the rest of this sceen played out... Well, I kind of can, but it ends with the house exploding. Review!

~Queen